California State Teachers Retirement System Has $43.53 Million Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

California State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 245,914 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 22,846 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of Ares Management worth $43,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,329,530,000 after buying an additional 907,757 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,753,779 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,903,741,000 after acquiring an additional 223,919 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,277,879 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,465,433,000 after acquiring an additional 33,700 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,258,519,000 after acquiring an additional 807,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $907,534,000 after acquiring an additional 66,671 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total transaction of $11,192,990.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,906,009.26. This trade represents a 69.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 972,035 shares of company stock worth $160,322,465. 36.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARES has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.94.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $165.57. 3,004,163 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,427,415. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $54.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $151.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The business had revenue of $951.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $914.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 263.53%.

Ares Management Company Profile

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets.